The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of California, Riverside is a special program, one that exists to provide stimulating learning experiences that enrich the intellectual, social and cultural lives of adults over the age of 50. Our series of classroom meetings and lectures take place in a peer environment, where learners with common bonds share their intellectual curiosity and the experiences of their generation.

On average, our program features over 80 noncredit, academic courses and 30 topical lectures each year. You can study for interest and for pleasure. Courses and lectures are organized around a topic and meetings and presentations are conducted by university and college professors. The Osher program is offered in Riverside at the UC Riverside Extension Center and in the Coachella Valley at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences.

If you are a lifelong learner and are looking for a unique learning environment that challenges your mind without the worry of tests and grades, I hope you will choose to join our community of learners at UCR Extension Osher program. I invite you to engage your mind, meet new and interesting people, experience university-level courses and lectures and stay mentally fit. Osher offers insightful learning for ageless minds.

The Bernard S. Osher Foundation was established in 1977 to benefit a wide range of educational, cultural, and other organizations primarily in the San Francisco Bay area and in Maine. The foundation began giving Lifelong Learning grants in 2001, and UC Riverside received its first grant of $100,000 in 2003. In all, the foundation has provided funding to create Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes at 119 universities and college campuses in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

UCR was one of 11 campuses within the University of California and California State University systems to receive the $100,000 grant and one of only two in Southern California in 2003.

In 2007 UCR received an endowment of $1 million. The grants enabled the university to generate stimulating university-level courses that enrich the intellectual, social and cultural lives of its members ages 50 and above.

Initially, a curriculum advisory board composed of retirees and UCR faculty emeritus was formed to assist with course selection. Now entering its 14th year, the program offers multiple-meeting classes held during the day, Monday through Friday and some weekends, in a variety of stimulating topics. Classes are noncredit and have no tests, grades or entrance requirements other than the love for learning. Study groups, seminars and lectures are held every Tuesday (September - June). Educational field trips and public forum/lectures are scheduled on various days.

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